Kabyle people in the context of Berber Academy

Kabyle (/kəˈbaɪl/) or Kabylian (/kəˈbɪliən/; native name: Taqbaylit [θɐqβæjlɪθ] ) is a Berber language spoken by the Kabyle people in the north and northeast of Algeria. It is spoken primarily in Kabylia.

Estimating the number of Berber speakers is very difficult and figures are often contested. A 2004 estimate was that 9.4% of the Algerian population spoke Kabyle. The number of diaspora speakers has been estimated at one million.

The Kabyle myth is a colonial trope that was propagated by French colonists in French Algeria based on a supposed binary between the Arab and Kabyle peoples, consisting of a set of stereotypes of supposed differences between them.

The myth emerged in the 19th century with French colonialism in Algeria, positing that the Kabyle people were more predisposed than Arabs to assimilate into "French civilization".

The Chaoui people or Shawiya (Arabic: الشاوية, Tachawit: Išawiyen) are a Berber ethnic group native to the Aurès region in northeastern Algeria.

They call themselves Išawiyen/Icawiyen (pronounced [iʃawijən]) and speak the Shawiya language. They are the second largest Tell Atlas Berber-speaking ethnicity, alongside the Kabyles and Chenouas.

Kabylia or Kabylie (/kəˈbɪliə/; Arabic: منطقة القبائل, lit. 'Area of the Tribes') is a mountainous coastal region in northern Algeria and the homeland of the Kabyle people. It is part of the Tell Atlas mountain range and is located at the edge of the Mediterranean.

Kabylia covers two provinces of Algeria: Tizi Ouzou and Béjaïa. Gouraya National Park and Djurdjura National Park are also located in Kabylia.

The indigenous population of the Maghreb region of North Africa encompass a diverse grouping of several heterogenous ethnic groups who predate the arrival of Arabs in the Arab migration to the Maghreb. They are collectively known as Berbers or Amazigh in English. The native plural form Imazighen is sometimes also used in English. While "Berber" is more widely known among English-speakers, its usage is a subject of debate, due to its historical background as an exonym and present equivalence with the Arabic word for "barbarian." When speaking English, indigenous North Africans typically refer to themselves as "Amazigh."

Historically, these groups of people did not refer to themselves as "Berbers" but had their own terms to refer to themselves. For example, the Kabyles use the term "Leqbayel" to refer to their own people, while the Chaouis identified themselves as "Ishawiyen" instead of Berber/Amazigh.